Epirb

How many of you have an EPIRB?
If you have one where do you keep it?

I was on a friends boat and his is mounted with a release function.
The thought came to me that it sure would make it easy for the USCG to find the EPIRB.

I would think I would rather have mine with me or mounted on the dink as that is my life raft if the boat sinks.

I think I would rather have a PLB instead of a boat mounted EPIRB.

whadduthink?

SD

I work as a contractor for the Coast Guard on C-130H acft. I recommend an EPIRB on a 406 Mhz Freq. That is the first freq the Coast Guard will search for and it is international. You can augment the PLB but you have to make sure they will see the signal.

http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/?pageName=mtEpirb

we have a PLB. key word there being A (only ONE). I bought it for Matt when he did the coastal cup this year, which was shortly after five local sailors died in an offshore race. We keep it near the lower helm but if we were in any kind of adverse conditions ONE of us would need to be wearing it. Prob whichever of us might be going outside. If you have a ditch bag that is a good place for it.

PLB in the ditch bag.

If I where a big water/remote location boater I'd have the boat mounted EPIRB and a PLB on every life jacket. But some of my friends think I'm a worry wart about that kinda stuff.

Another Idea is a Hand held VHF for the ditch bag and the EPIRB mounted to the boat so it can be thrown off or self activated. I prefer the manually deployed.
The VHF is handy to establish 2 way comms with Coast Guard SAR acft / boats or merchants...

CPseudonym said:

If I where a big water/remote location boater I'd have the boat mounted EPIRB and a PLB on every life jacket. But some of my friends think I'm a worry wart about that kinda stuff.

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Totally agree with this. I admit I am a worry wart about this kind of stuff.

Blue Heron said:

Another Idea is a Hand held VHF for the ditch bag and the EPIRB mounted to the boat so it can be thrown off or self activated. I prefer the manually deployed.
The VHF is handy to establish 2 way comms with Coast Guard SAR acft / boats or merchants...

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If we are in any kind of remotely adverse conditions we each have a handheld VHF on our PFD. They have some now with GPS (and MMSI) so you would have your position--good if you become separated from your vessel.

read the specs for both closely....a PLB is almost an EPIRB..just has to be manually activated and held antenna up. An EPIRB will float by itself, antenna up and many have a strobe. because they are much bigger, many have a few more hours of battery life, especially in cold water.

They function EXACTLY the same and the GPS version is desireable but the system is designed to find you fast enough without it.

Read some of this...most people have verly little accurate info on the machines and how the system ACTUALLY works.

Searched for and coordinated many cases involving them most of my career....I like the boat mounted (not necessarily auto release though...and a PLB in the ditch bag.

I hate treading water so 2 EPIRBs or a combo with a PLB REALLY appeals to me..

PSNeeld,
at over 600.00 bucks a pop, I doubt most will buy one let alone two...
It is about bang for the buck. As the OP asked.. EPIRB OR PLB... I go with EPIRB

We carry a Kannad EPIRB. It's in a cabinet by the door. Depending on where we are, we take it with us (along with a VHF) on extended outings in the inflatable.

Blue Heron said:

PSNeeld,
at over 600.00 bucks a pop, I doubt most will buy one let alone two...
It is about bang for the buck. As the OP asked.. EPIRB OR PLB... I go with EPIRB

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You can get a PLB for less than $400. I think the one I got was $349 (defender), plus they (ACR) were having a $50 rebate. One (HUGE) downside is it must be manually activated and held with the antenae up. So if you do happen to fall overboard you have to be conscious and able to deploy it and hold it properly. I'd say an ePIRB is preferably and if we were offshore I would definitely want one! The trip I wanted Matt to have the PLB for, the boat had an ePIRB. The PLB was extra protection for him personally. I think it would be a good thing to have in a ditch bag.

Blue Heron said:

PSNeeld,
at over 600.00 bucks a pop, I doubt most will buy one let alone two...
It is about bang for the buck. As the OP asked.. EPIRB OR PLB... I go with EPIRB

Click to expand...

Owning the boats we do and burning a tank of fuel costing a $1000 or so or a new battery charger that is all automatic instead of one you have to think for...or a couple dinners out these days...

a PLB and an EPIRB to save your life, friends, family????/ A wise investment in my book...and after 30+ years of Sar experience...no better money spent.

Psneeld, agree if we are able to choose. The OP asked either or... So choose one.

Compulsory for 5 or 6 years for vessels going offshore in Australia. Each EPIRB is individually registered with AMSA(Aust. Marine Safety Authority) to a particular boat,with owners name,details,emergency contacts,etc. AMSA can receive reports of activated beacons from numerous sources,including commercial aircraft, it then alerts local authorities. There have been some notable rescues as a result. The GPS equipped model is becoming the norm (non GPS ones are only warranted accurate to 5 km but still do a good job). The Australian manufacturer GME now includes a unit checkup and new battery at the 6 year mark.
There is no obligation to carry personal units but doing so,especially on racing sailboats,makes sense. BruceK

Yep, mine is located next to the helm on the flybridge, as this is where we drive the boat from, and it is where the lifejackets and flares are stored.

However after reading the posts I'm not sure if that is the best place for it.

Blue Heron said:

Psneeld, agree if we are able to choose. The OP asked either or... So choose one.

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Here's what he asked...

"I think I would rather have a PLB instead of a boat mounted EPIRB.

whadduthink?

SD"

What I THINK is I would have both if I boated where he boated...

but as I said in the other post...they are both the same rescue device with slightly different features. If You always wear a PFD and don't mind carrying a PLB in a pocket of it...there's probably no better setup...from there on ...the options are endless and only the skipper of the boat can make the best choice.

Given the waters where we boat and are likely to boat in the near future we don't see a value for either an EPIRB or a PLB. We have a waterproof handheld VHF that would go in the ditch bag that gets clipped to the dinghy in the event of an emergency.

If we are someday able to go up the Inside Passage into SE Alaska an EPIRB on the boat might be something we'd install if we could be convinced of its value. It would depend on how adventuresome and exploratory we wanted to be.

If we boated in the open ocean, or if I was still in Hawaii and was boating there, I would want a self-deploying EPIRB on the boat and very likely a PLB as well. But here the water temperature is such that survival times are fairly short unless you have a survival suit or can stay out of the water in a dinghy or raft. Even if one had a PLB, if they went into the water in the typical boater's clothing for this area by the time anything able to receive and track a locator signal got to you, you'd most likely be dead. Particularly if the emergency occurred up the coast.

I have an EPIRB, and a full ditch bag. I got a basic bag content list from a category one sailboat races list. I also keep wallets, cash and, anything the crew cares to put in. I have a hand held VHF, GPS, cell phone, and a windup radio with charger output.
Do you’ll carry rafts?

I have a ACR EPIRB Mounted in a manual release bracket inside the pilothouse. One of the kind with a built in GPS

Also have a PLB for the skiff

Also have a waterproof portable VHF

And a VSAT sat phone for when offshore

If I'm gonna die, by golly somebodys going to know about it!

And since someone asked, we have a 6 person SOLAS liferaft in addition to the skiff.

Boatgm said:

Do you’ll carry rafts?

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Not on the inside waters of the PNW. Commercial passenger boats do, of course, but I almost never see a recreational boat with a raft. I assume you mean an auto or manual-deploy emergency life raft.

Almost all recreational boats here, power and sail, have at least one dinghy on board or towed behind. Either an inflatable or RIB or a hardshell dinghy. We carry two on our boat because the lovely little sailing dinghy that came with the boat is near worthless as a utility shore-boat. So we added the wide and stable Livingston which we carry on the swimstep.

So in an emergency the dinghy is what is used here. If we boated in the open ocean the situation would be different but in our relatively protected inside waters a purpose-built life raft is pretty rare even on the larger (50'-60') recreational boats.

I got a GPS enabled EPIRB last Xmas, because we were going to go offshore, but the weather dudded that idea and we never got out there, however, still glad we got the EPIRB. As Bruce said. GME here is Oz have several models, but the one with GPS is now only $Aus399, so pretty good peace of mind. I have it mounted hear the helm at the pilot door, so it can be reached easily from inside or out.

Our EPIRB is mounted in the pilot house. If it needs to be activated, by one of us, it is by the radios and the helm. We do not think a hydrostatic release is a good idea for the average recreational boater. Waiting till an EPIRB is wet enough to release means that the boat is pretty much underwater and you should have called for help or abandoned ship by then.

Larry M said:

Our EPIRB is mounted in the pilot house. If it needs to be activated, by one of us, it is by the radios and the helm. We do not think a hydrostatic release is a good idea for the average recreational boater. Waiting till an EPIRB is wet enough to release means that the boat is pretty much underwater and you should have called for help or abandoned ship by then.

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That was our thinking as well.

Same thing with the life raft.

Marin said:

But here the water temperature is such that survival times are fairly short unless you have a survival suit or can stay out of the water in a dinghy or raft. Even if one had a PLB, if they went into the water in the typical boater's clothing for this area by the time anything able to receive and track a locator signal got to you, you'd most likely be dead. Particularly if the emergency occurred up the coast.

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Agreed. I've mentioned the event before, but we pulled an elderly man who had fallen off his son's boat from the water off Lopez Island a couple of years ago in the middle of the summer. Water temperature was about 55 degrees, he had been in the water for 5 minutes and was already almost unable to hold onto the fender he fell in with. EPIRB or PLB, he would have been dead if we hadn't seen him within 10 minutes of falling in, so a locator would only have helped retrieve the body. Still helpful, I suppose, and I would and did carry an EPIRB off shore, along with a survival raft, which gives you someplace to survive while SAR zero in on the EPIRB. In shore, and on the way up to Alaska, I wouldn't count on anyone finding us before we were cold cuts if we hit the drink.

Larry M said:

Waiting till an EPIRB is wet enough to release means that the boat is pretty much underwater and you should have called for help or abandoned ship by then.

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Consider that commercial vessels are required to have an automatic EPIRB. Often times in conditions under which an EPIRB might be needed (fire, flooding, abandon ship) there will be a lot of decisions to be made in a short time frame. Boats have been known to sink so fast that folks get out with little more than what they are wearing. (did you see the huge dock that just appeared off the coast from Japan? A real boat sinking hazard at night) A float free EPIRB might be their only chance of survival. All automatic units can be manually activated so there is no real down side. Given enough time, you can grab it and take it with you, but if you run out of time it's got a chance of working, unlike the one still in a cabinet or drawer. We also carry an abandon ship kit, a liferaft, handheld VHF, and survival suits for everyone aboard. Why not? All the savings you have in the bank are worthless if you or a loved one dies because you skimped on safety equipment. Certainly your area of operation will influence the equipment you need, but it's hard to have too many options in an emergency, even just a 1/2 mile off shore. In addition, you need to make sure you know how to use the equipment, and have practiced with it before you need it.

On Coastguard inspected vessels, we are required to run regular drills because it's proven to save lives, and that's good enough for my boat too.........Arctic Traveller

I have a new EPIRB class 1 auto release on the outside of the boat. The ditch bag has a handheld vhf plus flares, water and such. i have my inflatable on the motorized davits on back and i added snap shackles so i can get that puppy loose in a hurry. I started out on a Trimarian years ago so the thought of actually sinking was not on my mind. However I now have several tons of iron and no water tight bulkheads. In the right (or wrong) situation i could see by boat going to the bottom in less than a minute. I want to be ready even if i am asleep.